Universal time watch

ABSTRACT

A horological device with a regular hour hand and including an auxiliary hour hand for indicating a different time zone than the local time. The auxiliary hour hand is connected to a ratchet coupling member permitting relative rotation between the regular hour hand and the auxiliary hour hand when the crown is rotated in one direction and permitting normal setting of the hour hand and minute hand, with the auxiliary hour hand moving in unison, when the crown is rotated in the opposite direction. The coupling member is normally driven by the hour wheel through a first oneway ratchet, and is held in place during setting of the auxiliary hour hand by a second one-way ratchet utilizing weak radial spring arms.

United States Patent [1 1 Wuthrich et al.

[ June M, 1974 UNIVERSAL TIME WATCH [75] Inventors: Paul Wuthrich,Watertown; Rodney W. Reder; Joseph Rinaldi, both of Waterbury, all ofConn.

[73] Assignee: Timex Corporation, Waterbury,

- UNITED STATES PATENTS Primary Examiner-George H. Miller, Jr.

[ 57] ABSTRACT A horological device with a regular hour hand andincluding an auxiliary hour hand for indicating a different time zonethan the local time. The auxiliary hour hand is connected to a ratchetcoupling member permitting relative rotation between the regular hourhand and the auxiliary hourhand when the crown is rotated in onedirection and permitting normal setting of the hour hand and minutehand, with the auxiliary hour hand moving in unison, when the crown isrotated in the opposite direction. The coupling member is normallydriven by-the hour wheel through a first one-way ratchet, and is held inplace during setting of the auxiliary hour hand by a second one-wayratchet utilizing weak radial spring armsv 3,279,165 10/1966 Burg 58/4253,6! 1,703 10/1971 Borel 58/42. 5 7- Claims, 7 Drawing Figures ,4 t? Z!y /i f'# r 7:: /Z

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FIGA

UNIVERSAL TIME WATCH BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relatesgenerally to horological devices, and more particularly to a time zonesetting mechanism utilizing the same crown and stem assembly to changetime zone, as well as to set the regular time on the horological device.

Time zone watches with auxiliary hour hands on dials are well known inthe art, and various mechanisms have been proposed for setting theauxiliary hands or dials.

Exemplary of the prior art are U.S. Pat. No. 2,674,085 issued Apr. 6,1954 to Israel; U.S. Pat. No. 2,777,281 issued Jan, 15, 1957 to Berry;U.S. Pat. No. 3,276,201 issued Oct. 4, 1966 to Peacock; U.S. Pat. No.3,279,165 issued Oct. 18, 1966 to Burg; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,703issued Oct. 12,1971 to Borel. In the foregoing patents, complicatedmechanisms have been used in the setting mechanism, or two separatecrowns have been necessary, or frictional drives have been used betweenthe regular and auxiliary hour hands SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Brieflystated the invention comprises first and second coaxially mounted hourhand spindles carrying the regular and auxiliary hour hands, an hourwheel connected to drive one of the spindles, a ratchet coupling membercomprising a disk with one way ratchet means engaging the hour wheel,and a spring stop member with flexible radial spring arms engaging andforminga second one-way ratchet connection with the ratchet couplingmember.

DRAWINGS Other objectives and advantages of the invention will best beunderstood by reference to the appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a horizontal cross section through the hour hand drive andsetting mechanism,

FIG. 2 is a view of a time zone watch,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the spring stop member,

FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of the ratchet coupling member,

FIG. 5 is an enlarged horizontal cross-sectional view of the sameratchet coupling member, viewed along line VV of FIG. 4,

FIG. 6 is a partial plan view of the hour wheel, and

FIG. 7 is an assembled plan view of the auxiliary and regular settingmechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIG. 1 of thedrawings, only the parts necessary to an understanding of the presentinvention are shown, the remainder of elements being conventional. Thehand drive and setting mechanism, shown generally as l, is carried on abridge member 2. Power to drive the hands enters through the sweepsecond staff 3 carrying a sweep second hand 4, staff 3 is journaled atone end in a bearing 5 and inside a fixed spindle 6 attached to bridge2. Power is transmitted from staff 3 through a gear train (not shown) tocrown gear 7 which includes time setting and time zone setting crownteeth 8. The crown teeth 8 are engageable through conventional mechanism(not shown) by means of an external crown and'stem assembly 9 when thestem is retracted and rotated in either direction. Crown gear 7 isconnected to a minute pinion 10 and also journaled in bridge 2.

.The gear train between staff 3 and crown gear 7 also drives via wheel30 by conventional means a cannon pinion ll journaled on fixed spindle 6and carrying a minute hand 12.

The minute pinion 10 drives an hour wheel 13 attached to hollow spindle14 which is rotatably journaled on cannon pinion ll'and carrys a-regularhour hand 15. The foregoing described portions of the watch areconventional.

In accordance with the present invention, a second hollow spindle 16 isrotatably mounted coaxially with spindle 14 and carrys an auxiliary hourhand 17 on one end and a special ratchet coupling member 18 on its otherend. Coupling member 18 is engageable through a first ratchet connectionon one side with hour wheel 13, and through a second ratchet connectionon the other side with a spring stop member 19. Member 19 is carriedbeneath and fixed to the dial face 20 of the watch. I

Referring to FIG. 2 of the drawing a typical watch is seen, indicatingthe arrangement of second hand 4, minute hand 12 and hour hand 15, whichare conventional, and the auxiliary hour hand 17 showing the time in azone three hours ahead of local time. v

FIG. 3 of the drawing is a perspective view of the spring stop member 19illustrating the construction. A ring 21 has upstanding tabs 22 on itsinner periphery which lock the member 19 to the dial face by means ofnotches 28 (see FIG. 1). Extending from the outer periphery are radialspring arms 23 which are relatively flexible and which are engageablewith the ratchet coupling member 18 beneath raised tabs '24.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are views of the ratchet coupling member 18 showing it tocomprise a disk having raised tabs 24 uniformly spaced around its outerperiphery and depressed tabs 25 uniformly spaced around an intermediateportion thereof.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the hour. wheel 13 having teeth'26 engageablewith the minute pinion and having a series of uniformly spaced openings27 centered at the same radius from the axis as depressed tabs 25 on thecoupling member. Openings 27 are preferably 30 apart, or at one hourintervals'on a 12 hour dial.

In FIG. 7, the assembly of hour wheel 13, ratchet coupling member 18,and spring stop member 19 are shown with the dial face removed. Themechanism is shown during setting of the auxiliary hour hand, ratherthan'during normal driving of the regular and auxiliary hour hands. Inthis position, radial spring arms 23 are engaged beneath tabs 24 on theratchet coupling member 18, thereby preventing rotation of member 18 ina counterclockwise direction, since spring stop member 19 is fixed tothe dial 20 through tabs 22. However,

OPERATlON In order to set the auxiliary hour hand relative to theregular hour hand, crown assembly 9 is retracted and rotated so as toturn hour wheel 13 counterclockwise. Radial spring arms 23 engagebeneath raised tabs 24 on the coupling member 18 as it attempts torotate with the hour wheel and hold it in place. Ratcheting is performedby tabs 25, so as to rotate spindles l4 and 16 relative to one another.Therefore the regular hour hand can be moved relative to the fixedauxiliary hand to indicate the time difference of a particular timezone.

For normal setting of the hands, the crown assembly 9 is rotated in theopposite or normal driving direction to rotate hour wheel 13 clockwise.Tabs 25 on coupling 18 engage the radial sides of recesses 27, therebymoving both regular and auxiliary hands together, while the fixed radialarms 23 disengage from and pass over tabs 24. When the minute pinion isdriving the hour wheel during normal running of the watch mechanism, thehands are driven together, again through the engagement of tabs 25 withthe sides of recesses 27. Since the radial arms 23 are very flexible,they do not interfere materially and consume little additional powerbecause of the very weak ratcheting action.

While there has been described what is considered at present to be thepreferred embodiment of the invention, it is desired to secure in theappended claims all modifications which fall within the true spirit andscope of the invention.

What we claim is 1. Regular and auxiliary hour hand driving and settingmechanism for a horological device having a dial comprising:

a first rotatably mounted spindle carrying a regular hour hand,

a second spindle rotatably and coaxially mounted on said first spindleand carrying an auxiliary hour hand,

an hour wheel connected to drive said first spindle;

a ratchet coupling member connected to drive said second spindle andcoaxially mounted adjacent said hour wheel,

a fixed spring stop member disposed adjacent said coupling member, saidhour wheel and said coupling member cooperatively associated in a firstone-way ratchet connection preventing rotation of said couplingcounterclockwise with respect to said hour wheel, and said spring stopmember and said coupling member cooperatively associated in a secondweak one-way ratchet connection preventing counterclockwise rotation ofsaid coupling member with respect to the spring stop member.

2. The combination according to claim l, wherein said ratchet couplingmember comprises a disk having uniformly spaced raised tabs on its outerperiphery and having uniformly spaced depressed tabs around anintermediate portion thereof.

3. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said fixed spring stopmember comprises a ring having flexible spring arms uniformly spaced andextending radially therefrom.

4. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said second one-wayratchet connection comprises a plurality of flexible radial arms on thespring stop member arranged to engage a plurality of raised tabs on theperiphery of said coupling member.

5. The combination according to claim l, wherein said first one-wayratchet connection comprises a plurality of tabs extending in acircumferentialdirection from said coupling member and arranged to entera plurality of uniformly spaced recesses on said hour wheel.

6. The combination according to claim 5, wherein said recesses arespaced by an angular spacing of 30.

7. Regular and auxiliary hour hand driving and setting mechanism for ahorological device having a dial comprising:

a first rotatably mounted spindle carrying a regular hour hand,

a second spindle rotatably and coaxially mounted on said first spindleand carrying an auxiliary hour hand,

an hour wheel connected to drive said first spindle and having uniformlyspaced recesses around an intermediate portion thereof,

a ratchet coupling member connected to drive said second spindle, saidcoupling member comprising a disk coaxially mounted adjacent said hourwheel and having a plurality of raised tabs uniformly spaced about itsperiphery and having a plurality of depressed tabs spaced about anintermediate portion thereof forming a first one-way ratchet connectionwith the recesses in said hour wheel,

a fixed spring stop member disposed adjacent said coupling member.

1. Regular and auxiliary hour hand driving and setting mechanism for ahorological device having a dial comprising: a first rotatably mountedspindle carrying a regular hour hand, a second spindle rotatably andcoaxially mounted on said first spindle and carrying an auxiliary hourhand, an hour wheel connected to drive said first spindle; a ratchetcoupling member connected to drive said second spindle and coaxiallymounted adjacent said hour wheel, a fixed spring stop member disposedadjacent said coupling member, said hour wheel and said coupling membercooperatively associated in a first one-way ratchet connectionpreventing rotation of said coupling counterclockwise with respect tosaid hour wheel, and said spring stop member and said coupling membercooperatively associated in a second weak one-way ratchet connectionpreventing counterclockwise rotation of said coupling member withrespect to the spring stop member.
 2. The combination according to claim1, wherein said ratchet coupling member comprises a disk havinguniformly spaced raised tabs on its outer periphery and having uniformlyspaced depressed tabs around an intermediate portion thereof.
 3. Thecombination according to claim 1, wherein said fixed spring stop membercomprises a ring having flexible spring arms uniformly spaced andextending radially therefrom.
 4. The combination according to claim 1,wherein said second one-way ratchet connection comprises a plurality offlexible radial arms on the spring stop member arranged to engage aplurality of raised tabs on the periphery of said coupling member. 5.The combination according to claim 1, wherein said first one-way ratchetconnection comprises a plurality of tabs extending in a circumferentialdirection from said coupling member and arranged to enter a plurality ofuniformly spaced recesses on said hour wheel.
 6. The combinationaccording to claim 5, wherein said recesses are spaced by an angularspacing of 30*.
 7. Regular and auxiliary hour hand driving and settingmechanism for a horological device having a dial comprising: a firstrotatably mounted spindle carrying a regular hour hand, a second spindlerotatably and coaxially mounted on said first spindle and carrying anauxiliary hour hand, an hour wheel connected to drive said first spindleand having uniformly spaced recesses around an intermediate portionthereof, a ratchet coupling member connected to drive said secondspindle, said coupling member comprising a disk coaxially mountedadjacent said hour wheel and having a plurality of raised tabs uniformlyspaced about its periphery and having a plurality of depressed tabsspaced about an intermediate portion thereof forming a first one-wayratchet connection with the recesses in said hour wheel, a fixed springstop member disposed adjacent said coUpling member and connected to saiddial, said spring stop member having a plurality of flexible armsextending radially and forming a second one-way ratchet connection withthe raised tabs on the coupling member.